Digital records and smaller wallet-sized plastic vaccination cards should be rolled out by the end of the year, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony says.
He noted yesterday that collaboration with the Government of India on a customized digital data base was in the works.
“We want to make the entire system electronic; that is to replace the paper-based system we have right now to a full digitized system which would have the data base,” Anthony told Stabroek News.
“We have had several discussions with the Government of India. We are expecting a date when they would get that to us,” he added, while noting that a firm date has not been given and he does not want to commit to a definite date for rollout.
But the Minister of Health is optimistic that the transition from the current paper system to an electronic one will be soon as he explained that India was making the Covid-19 vaccination tracking software available to countries around the globe.
Lamenting the current cumbersomeness in having to take the paper-book card around daily for some, Anthony said that the document being lost or damaged was factored in and persons needing replacements could have those until the new system “kicks in”.
To do so they would have to visit the Maternal and Child Health Services (MCH) Department of the Ministry of Health, located in the Brickdam compound and request a replacement.
Anthony said that process, too, was manual and it was why his ministry is eager for the digitized system to be in place. “There is a system for replacement but it, too, is very manual. We have to go back and check through all the paper records to verify and when that is done then we are able to issue another. Persons can come to the MCH Department and give the relevant details and the team there will be able to check for it. You give them, let’s say where you were vaccinated, an approximate date…and they will check and see if you did have a vaccine. We want to change all of that. When we transition, you don’t need to walk around with a big card,” he said.
Benefits of the electronic system and the plastic card system, the Health Minister underscored, are to both the Ministry of Health and the public.
“Once we implement it, given it has a number of features, not taking the paper card could be one of them. Basically the system has features where you can pull it up on your phone. What it also comes with is a strong back end so that people can’t forge it, because if you are asked to verify first and then your information comes up. If somebody who was not vaccinated tried to forge it, it wouldn’t work,” he said.
“So you can bring up that information very quickly and if then anybody misplaces their card, they can be able to access the info. That is just one good thing about it. Also, like I explained, if anybody tries to forge it, we would be able to pick up those forgeries.
For persons without phones or other gadgets for accessing the information, the Ministry of Health will complement the system with a wallet-sized plastic card with each person’s vaccine history.
“We are also working on, when the system is up and running, issuing a smaller card that contains all the information. So when you flash that [card], all the information can come up.
“For example if you go to the airport and they want to verify that you are vaccinated, you show them your card, they would have a card reader, they scan that and it allows them to get all the information,” he added.
Under the updated pandemic measures implemented by the government, from this month members of the public who wish to visit a ministry or a government agency for a service will have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or if they are unvaccinated they will have to make an appointment.
Several ministries have also sent out memoranda encouraging vaccination and informing staff that if they are unvaccinated they would have to provide a negative PCR test before they can be allowed to work.
As it relates to public transport operators, the measures state that they would be required to have both identification documents and vaccination cards.
In order to be considered vaccinated, a person would have to have received at least one dose of either the AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
The requirement to present vaccination and identification cards do not apply to children 17 years and younger.
